Eric A. Johnson, MS

Eric Johnson

“We’re on the forefront of research in many areas. It’s our responsibility to make sure the research is done well and is useful to those who practice medicine.”

Eric A. Johnson, MS

Senior Collaborative Biostatistician, Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute

Eric.Johnson@kp.org
206-287-2015

Biography

Eric Johnson, MS, completed the University of Washington’s biostatistics master’s program in 2008. His thesis explored common theoretical problems involved with missing data. He quantified them, highlighting conditions leading to suboptimal performance, and provided new guidelines for using various multiple imputation techniques.

During his time at KPWHRI, Mr. Johnson has been involved with multiple projects involving direct intervention with the care-delivery system, observational studies and microsimulation modeling on colorectal and ovarian cancer, massage therapy, and estimating radiation exposure from medical imaging. His current responsibilities lie in research on obesity, opioids, and mental health. 

Before earning his master’s degree, Mr. Johnson worked for four years as a research assistant on the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), performing statistical analyses, verifying incoming data, and developing a process for providing data sets to all MESA researchers. Later, he was a research statistician with the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA), serving as the primary analyst in an investigation of how well VA hospitals performed non-cardiac surgeries. Mr. Johnson assessed statistical models used by the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program—then devised, tested, and implemented improved models, reporting his findings to VA leadership.

Research interests and experience 

Recent publications

Chubak J, Hubbard RA, Johnson E, Kamineni A, Rutter CM. Assessing the effectiveness of a cancer screening test in the presence of another screening modality. J Med Screen. 2015 Jun;22(2):69-75. doi: 10.1177/0969141314562036. Epub 2014 Dec 9. PubMed

Adams KF, Johnson EA, Chubak J, Kamineni A, Doubeni CA, Buist DS, Williams AE, Weinmann S, Doria-Rose VP, Rutter CM. Development of an algorithm to classify colonoscopy indication from coded health care data. EGEMS. (Wash DC). 2015 May 18;3(1):1171. doi: 10.13063/2327-9214.1171. eCollection 2015.

Cromp D, Hsu C, Coleman K, Fishman PA, Liss DT, Ehrlich K, Johnson E, Ross TR, Trescott C, Trehearne B, Reid RJ. Barriers and facilitators to team-based care in the context of primary care transformation. J Ambul Care Manage. 2015 Apr-Jun;38(2):125-33. doi: 10.1097/JAC.0000000000000056.

Rutter CM, Greenlee RT, Johnson E, Stark A, Weinmann S, Kamineni A, Adams K, Doubeni CA. Prevalence of colonoscopy before age 50. Prev Med. 2015 Jan 4. pii: S0091-7435(14)00510-6. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2014.12.028 [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed

Wernli KJ, Hubbard RA, Johnson E, Chubak J, Kamineni A, Green BB, Rutter CM. Patterns of colorectal cancer screening uptake in newly-eligible men and women.  Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2014 Jul;23(7):1230-7. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-13-1360. Epub 2014 May 3. PubMed

Miglioretti DL, Zhang Y, Johnson E, Lee C, Morin RL, Vanneman N, Smith-Bindman R. Personalized technologist dose audit feedback for reducing patient radiation exposure from CT. J Am Coll Radiol. 2014;11(3):300-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jacr.2013.10.017. PubMed

Rutter CM, Johnson EA, Feuer EJ, Knudsen AB, Kuntz KM, Schrag D. Secular trends in colon and rectal cancer relative survival.  J Natl Cancer Inst. 2013 Dec 4;105(23):1806-13. doi: 10.1093/jnci/djt299. Epub Oct 30. PubMed

Liss DT, Fishman PA, Rutter CM, Grembowski D, Ross TR, Johnson EA, Reid RJ. Outcomes among chronically ill adults in a medical home prototype. Am J Manag Care. 2013;19(10):e348-e358. PubMed

Hubbard RA, Johnson E, Hsia R, Rutter CM. The cumulative risk of false-positive fecal occult blood test after 10 years of colorectal cancer screening.  Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2013 Sep;22(9):1612-9. doi:10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-13-0254. Epub 2013 Jul 18. PubMed

Miglioretti DL, Johnson E, Williams A, Greenlee RT, Weinmann S, Solberg LI, Feigelson HS, Roblin D, Flynn MJ, Vanneman N, Smith-Bindman R. The use of computed tomography in pediatrics and the associated radiation exposure and estimated cancer risk.  JAMA Pediatr. 2013 Aug 1;167(8):700-7. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2013.311. PubMed

 

Research

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Study finds bariatric surgery linked to substantially lower risk of blood clots long-term

Largest study to date helps patients weigh risks and benefits of surgery.

New findings

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Simpler models to identify suicide risk perform similarly to more complex ones

Models that are easier to explain, use could have better uptake in health care settings.

New findings

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Research roundup on natural language processing and machine learning

Using doctor's notes to learn about drug reactions, dementia, and cannabis use.

New findings

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Is bariatric surgery helpful in chronic kidney disease?

David Arterburn and colleagues find that bariatric surgery is linked to lower death risk in persons with obesity and CKD.